Shoe and heel attached thereto



June 16, 1953 LEAHY HAL 2,641,852

SHOE AND HEEL ATTACHED THERETO Filed Nov. 50, 1950 Inven fora James Flea/2y Patented June 1 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,s41,s5 2 a A SHOE AND HYEELATTACHED THERETO James Leahy, Beverly, and George F. C. Burke, Fairhaven, Mass., assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey 7 Application November 30, 1950, Serialblo. 198,400

' 2 Claims. (01. 36-245) I This invention relates to shoes and to heels which may be advantageously atta-ched to said shoes by practicing; the method disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,607,061,

I granted August 19, 1952, on an application filed in the names of; Leahyet a1.

choring cavities thereby filling. .with the resin said cavities as well'as'any voids formed between the heel seat of the shoe and the attaching face of the heel. The heel is held clamped against the heel seat of the shoe until-the thermoplastic'resin hardens and shrinks and thus tion and claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an exploded view showing in perspective a heel seat of a shoe and a heel which is to be attached to the shoe by thermoplastic resin;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal median section through the heel seat of the shoe and the heel attached to the shoe;

Fig. 3 is a view on line I1IIII of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal median section through the upper forward end portion of a modified heel attached to a shoe.

The present invention is illustrated with reference to a heel 20 and a shoe 22 to which said heel is attached by practicing the method dis closed in the above-mentioned Patent No. 2,607,061. As aboveexplained, in order permanently to attach heels 2!! to shoes 22 it has been proposed to form in the heel seat 24 (Fig. l)

of the shoe an undercut recess 26 (Figs. 1 and its attaching face 28 (Fig. 1)- a pair of cross 2 slots 30 which may be described as anchoring cavities and the general planes of which are inclined to a plane of a rim 32 of the attaching face, of the heel. The illustrative heel 20 has applied to it a one-piece cover 34 which is wrapped about and secured to the rearand side faces of the heel and oppositeforwardly projecting margins of which are secured tov the uncovered breast 36 (Figs; 1 and 3) of the heel and have their margins tucked side by side in a heightwise median $101138 (Figs. 2 and 3) formed in the breast of the heel." The-upper margin of the cover 34 is inturned-upon and secured to the attaching face 28 of the heel and thelower margin of the cover is inturned uponand secured-to a top lift receiving face 4 0 of the heel to which face=a top-lift 42 is nailed. In order to strengthen the heel 20 it is provided with a metal dowel 44 extending heightwise'of'the'heel along its lower median portion.

In order, after the heel 2|] has been positioned upon and forced with heavy pressure against the heel seat 24 of the shoe, to inject viscous thermoplastic resin into the cavities 28, so in the heel seat of the shoe and in the heel as well as into voids existing between the heel seat of the shoeand the attaching face of the heel, heels have heretofore been provided with passages (not shown) which extend heightwise of the heel between the top lift receiving face 40 of the heel and intersecting portions of the cross slots 30. In high heels such passages are necessarily long and because of the small horizontal sectional area of the heel are usually of limited sectional under high pressure, which is undesirable, said hardened resin tends tov restrict flow of viscous resin through said passages. Moreover, a passage extending from the top lift receiving face of the heel to intersecting portions of the slots 30 in the attaching face 24 of the heel requires to fill it a substantial amount of resin which is expensive and considerably heavier than wood and to leave substantial lengths of the lower ends of such passages unfilled weakens the'heel. Furthermore, high heels such as above referred to have reinforcing dowels driven into them and accordingly it is impracticable to form said passages in such heels.

With the above considerations in view the present heel 20 has a passage 48 (Figs. 1 and 2) extending from the intersecting portions of the cross slots 30 to the upper central portion of the breast 36 of the heel, said passage extending through the cover receiving slot 38 formed in the breast of the heel and through the cover 34 applied to said breast.

A covered heel 20A (Fig. 4) of the general typ shown in Fig. 2 but not having a cover receiving slot 38 has a resin receiving passage 48A which is similar to the passage 48 but extends without interruption to the covered breast 36A of the heel. It is the practice to withdraw the resin injector (not shown) from the passage 48 or 48A as said passage becomes filled and before the resin has filled the passage to a point adjacent to the'outer or heel breast end of said passage 48A (Fig. 4) or to the heel cover receiving slot 38 (Fig. 2), a valve (not shown) is operated toshut off the supply of resin from the injector which is then withdrawn from said passage.

In order that the passage 48 and a registering hole in the cover 34 shall not be visible inthe finished shoe it is customary for the operator before the resin 46 hardens or sets to insert overthe breast end of the passage 48' a rigid cap or button 50 an outer .face ofwhich Lhasa desired design and an inner face of which has a flange 52 which extends approximatelyto ,the bottom of and fits snugly in the cover receiving slot 38 and to which is attachedat least one metal strip .54 which -may be considered as part of said cap and whenthe cap rests against the covered breast of the"heel extends into the then semi-hardened viscousres'in 46 .Instead of providing the cap 50-.a modified cap 56 (Fig. 4) maybe provided said cap having an outer face of a desired design; An inner ,face of the cap 56 has secured to its-a plurality of resilient barbed fingers-58 which are springpressed against the wall of the-outer portion of the passage 48A to holdthe cap firmly in place .against the covered abreast 36A of .the heel '20A.

Having thus describedour invention, what we 4 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A shoe having an anchoring cavity in its heel seat and having a heel an attaching face of which is provided with an anchoring cavity and which has a passage extending to its breast fromsaid cavity, said cavities, said passage and voids formed between theiheel' seat of the shoe and the attaching face of the heel being substantially filled with hardened thermoplastic resin serving permanently to secure the heel to the shoe, a rigid :cap which engages the breast of theheeland overlies a heel breast end of the passage, and an extension on said cap anchored in .7theresininsaidpassage.

.2. A shoe having an anchoring cavity in its heel seat and having a heel an attaching face of Number which is provided with an anchoring cavity and which .has formed in its breast a heightwise extending medial slot and has a passage extending from its cavity through said slot to the breast of f-the' heelfsaid cavities, said passage and voids formed between the heel-seat of the shoe and the attaching face of the heel being substantially filled with hardened thermoplastic resin serving permanently to secure the heel to the shoe, a rigid cap which engages the breast of the heel and having a flange which fits in the slot 7 Name Date 1393;1'75 -Sherard. Oct. 11., 1921 2,241,467 iMaccarone iMay 13, 19.41 2,299,195 Ushakoff 'Oct. 20, '1942 Lea-hy Aug. 2.4, 1948 

